New archaeological discovery in Upper Egypt’s Minya

A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
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A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
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A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
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A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
New archaeological discovery in Upper Egypt’s Minya
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Updated 08 January 2024
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New archaeological discovery in Upper Egypt’s Minya

A Spanish archaeological team have made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site.
  • They found several tombs dated from the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, and mummies from the Roman era
  • The tombs discovered in the Roman era were found on the eastern side of the upper cemetery in Al-Bahnasa

CAIRO: A Spanish archaeological team — led by Dr. Mayte Mascorro and Dr. Esther Pons Melado from the University of Barcelona and the Institute of the Ancient Near East — made a remarkable discovery during their excavation in the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site in Minya, Egypt.

They found several tombs dated from the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, and mummies from the Roman era.

The tombs discovered in the Roman era were found on the eastern side of the upper cemetery in Al-Bahnasa, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

These are tombs with a new type of burial, consisting of a hole dug into the natural rock below the ground.

Terracotta statues depicting the deity Isis Aphrodite, wearing a floral wreath topped with a crown, have been discovered for the first time in the Al-Bahnasa region, Waziri said.

This discovery suggests that the region still holds many secrets and burial methods from different eras, he said.

Adel Okasha, head of the Central Department for Egyptian Antiquities in Central Egypt, said the mission discovered papyrus fragments inside a clay seal and numerous mummies wrapped in colored cloth. Some mummies had gilded and colored funerary masks covering their faces.

A gold tongue was found inside the mouths of two mummies, a Roman ritual to preserve the dead, discovered in Al-Bahnasa.

Gamal El-Samastawy, director general of Central Egypt Antiquities, said that the tombs at this site were designed as a stone well that ended with a mud-brick door, leading to a large hole where a group of empty coffins were found.

There is another closed object that contains mummies covered with colored cartonnage.

Outside the coffins, 23 mummified bodies and four human-shaped coffins were discovered.

One of the coffins contained two mummies and small votive perfume bottles, El-Samastawy said.

Hassan Amer, professor of archaeology at Cairo University and director of the mission’s excavations, said that the team discovered several stone blocks from a demolished building.

The blocks were adorned with intricate designs of plants, animals, birds, cobras and bunches of grapes.

Amer said that the upcoming excavation seasons would allow the mission to complete its work at the site and uncover more.

Last week, a joint Egyptian-Japanese archaeological mission, consisting of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Waseda University, uncovered a rock tomb from the Second Dynasty.

The team also discovered several architectural features, burials and other archaeological finds at the Saqqara site.


Blinken sees ‘encouraging signs’ on reaching Gaza ceasefire

Blinken sees ‘encouraging signs’ on reaching Gaza ceasefire
Updated 2 sec ago
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Blinken sees ‘encouraging signs’ on reaching Gaza ceasefire

Blinken sees ‘encouraging signs’ on reaching Gaza ceasefire
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip on a visit to Ankara
ANKARA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip on a visit to Ankara.
“We discussed Gaza, and we discussed I think the opportunity... to get a ceasefire in place. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks are more encouraging signs that that is possible,” Blinken said after meeting Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Israeli strike on Gaza post office kills 30 Palestinians

Israeli strike on Gaza post office kills 30 Palestinians
Updated 1 min 33 sec ago
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Israeli strike on Gaza post office kills 30 Palestinians

Israeli strike on Gaza post office kills 30 Palestinians
  • Medics say post office was sheltering displaced Palestinians

CAIRO: An Israeli strike on a post office sheltering Gaza residents killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50, medics said, and the Israeli military said on Friday it had been targeting a senior Islamic Jihad member.
Families displaced by the 14-month-old conflict had sought refuge in the postal facility in the Nuseirat camp, and the strike late on Thursday brought the day’s death toll in the enclave to 66, the medics said.
Israel said its target was an Islamic Jihad leader of attacks on Israeli civilians and troops and accused the militant group of exploiting civilian infrastructure and population as a human shield for its activities.
An Israeli military statement said it was reviewing reports on the number of casualties.
Nuseirat is one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic camps originally for Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war around the establishment of Israel. Today, it is part of a dense urban area crowded with displaced people from throughout the enclave.
Earlier on Thursday, two Israeli strikes in southern Gaza killed 13 Palestinians who Gaza medics and Hamas said were part of a force protecting humanitarian aid trucks. Israel’s military said they were Hamas militants trying to hijack the shipment.
Many of those killed in the attacks on Rafah and Khan Younis had links to Hamas, according to sources close to the militant group.
The Israeli military said in a statement the two airstrikes aimed to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and accused Hamas members of planning to prevent the aid from reaching Gaza civilians who need it.
Armed gangs have repeatedly hijacked aid trucks, and Hamas has formed a task force to confront them. The Hamas-led forces have killed over two dozen members of the gangs in recent months, Hamas sources and medics said.
Hamas said Israeli military strikes have killed at least 700 police tasked with securing aid trucks in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Separately, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents of several districts in the heart of Gaza City to evacuate, saying it would respond to rockets fired from those areas. At nightfall on Thursday, dozens of families streamed out of the areas heading toward the center of the city.
Months of ceasefire efforts by Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, have failed to conclude a deal between the two warring sides.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in Tel Aviv on Thursday he believed a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release may be close as Israel had signalled it was ready and there were signs of movement from Hamas.
The war in the Palestinian enclave began after Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to Hamas-run Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military has levelled swathes of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 44,800 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.


Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter

Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter
Updated 13 December 2024
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Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter

Israel orders troops to ‘prepare to remain’ in Syria buffer zone through winter
  • ‘Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon’

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to “prepare to remain” throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights.
“Due to the situation in Syria, it is of critical security importance to maintain our presence at the summit of Mount Hermon, and everything must be done to ensure the (army’s) readiness on-site to enable the fighters to stay there despite the challenging weather conditions,” Katz’s spokesman said in a statement Friday.


Fire at Jordan nursing home kills 6 residents, injures dozens

Fire at Jordan nursing home kills 6 residents, injures dozens
Updated 13 December 2024
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Fire at Jordan nursing home kills 6 residents, injures dozens

Fire at Jordan nursing home kills 6 residents, injures dozens
  • An investigation was being conducted to identify the cause of the blaze

AMMAN: Six residents died and dozens were injured after a fire broke out a nursing home in Jordan, state news agency Petra reported.

The fire at the White Beds Society’s, or Al-Asirra Al-Baydaa, elderly home killed six elderly, badly injuring five and moderately injuring fifty-five more, according to Wafa Bani Mustafa, Minister of Social Development.

The fire spread engulfed the entire 80-square-meter center, which houses 111 people, the minister added.

The injured were taken to government hospitals for treatment, while the remaining elderly were moved to other centers.

An investigation was being conducted to identify the cause of the blaze, the minister said.


Russia in contact with Syrian militants, hopes to keep military bases, Interfax reports

Russia in contact with Syrian militants, hopes to keep military bases, Interfax reports
Updated 13 December 2024
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Russia in contact with Syrian militants, hopes to keep military bases, Interfax reports

Russia in contact with Syrian militants, hopes to keep military bases, Interfax reports
  • Contacts with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham are ‘proceeding in constructive fashion’

MOSCOW Russia has established direct contact with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Thursday.

Interfax reported that Bogdanov, speaking to journalists, also said Moscow aimed to maintain its military bases in Syria.

Bogdanov said contacts with HTS, the most powerful force in the country after the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, were “proceeding in constructive fashion.”

Russia, he said, hoped the group would fulfil its pledges to “guard against all excesses,” maintain order and ensure the safety of diplomats and other foreigners.

Bogdanov said Russia hoped to maintain its two bases in Syria – a naval base in Tartous and the Khmeimim Air Base near the port city of Latakia – to keep up efforts against international terrorism.

“The bases are still there, where they were on Syrian territory. No other decisions have been made for the moment,” he was quoted as saying.

“They were there at the Syrians’ request with the aim of fighting terrorists from the Islamic State. I am proceeding on the basis of the notion that everyone agrees that the fight against terrorism, and what remains of IS, is not over.”

Maintaining that fight, he said, “requires collective efforts and in this connection, our presence and the Khmeimim base played an important role in the context of the overall fight against international terrorism.”

Another Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Vershinin, and the UN’s special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, called for measures to destabilize the situation in and around Syria, according to a statement on the foreign ministry’s website.

The statement said the two diplomats discussed by telephone finding a political settlement in a way to be determined by the Syrian people and ensuring Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.